Songs by Mahler, Handel & Peter Lieberson [Live, Import]

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Artist, Performer), Gustav Mahler (Composer), George Frideric Handel (Composer), Peter Lieberson (Composer), Johannes Brahms (Composer), Roger Vignoles (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Roger Vignoles
• Composer: Gustav Mahler, George Frideric Handel, Peter Lieberson, Johannes Brahms
• Audio CD (April 10, 2007)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live, Import
• Label: Wigmore Hall Live
• ASIN: B000MEYHXA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,513 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #34 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Historical Periods > Baroque (c.1600-1750)
  • #68 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Historical Periods > Modern & 20th Century
  • #96 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Oratorios

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

We are indebted to Wigmore Hall for preserving this 1998 recital by the great, beloved mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who was tragically taken from us in 2006. Now that her recordings are all we have left, this one is particularly valuable: it captures the vibrant immediacy of a live performance. The concentrated, spellbound silence of the audience is like a tangible presence. It also captures the incomparable beauty of Hunt Lieberson's voice: a dark alto in the low register, a warm mezzo in mid-range, crowned by a radiant top. Seamless, focused, and pure, she could make it float ethereally or glow with intensity; her intonation and breath-control were impeccable. The program illustrates the breadth of her repertoire. Baroque opera was among her specialties, and the record includes two slow Handel arias, one a lament, one a prayer. She carries the influence of the bel canto style and its tendency to swell notes with delayed vibrato over into the Five Mahler Songs on Rückert poems, making them sound a bit fussy and calculated, particularly the first and last, which are extremely slow. In the fourth, however, the initial despair and final heroic resignation come out beautifully. In both these groups, one misses the orchestra, especially because the pianist, an admirable, empathetic partner, sounds distant and subdued. The program ends with works by her husband, Peter Lieberson: two songs on Rilke poems and an aria from the opera Ashoka's Dream. No composer could wish for a more persuasive advocate. She brings out their majesty, passion, and inward expressiveness with total identification. As encores, the spiritual "Deep River," the first verse in the low register, the second an octave higher, is deeply devout; Brahms' "Unbewegte laue Luft" starts softly and ends in a burst of glory. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reissued recital in tribute to a great artist, May 31, 2007

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Songs by Mahler, Handel & Peter Lieberson (Audio CD)

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson got her just due as a great singer only in the last seven years or so of her life. She had sung gloriously at the New York City Opera without being offered a chance to debut at the Met until she was in her forties and made a huge success as Dido in Berlioz's Les Troyens. Now that she is gone, her rpemature death has inspsired a number of tribute albums, of which this 1998 recital in Wigmore Hall is one of the best.

For one thing, it's her only solo recital on disk, and it features some staples of her repertoire--two arias from Handel's Theodora, two beautiful Rilke settings by Petyer Lieberson, and the spiritual 'Deep River' as one of the encores. Hunt Lieberson was also a great Mahler singer but never recored any. She was deeply moving in the Third Sym. as she is here in the five Ruckert lieder. Roger Nognobles offers exceptionally sensitive accompaniments, particularly in the Mahler--I'd rank this CD as first choice if you want these songs outside their usual orchestral setting.

In sum, a unique recital form a much loved and greatly missed singer.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars how do you even begin to comment on this singer?, June 22, 2007

By 

Edie Sousa (Manhattan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Songs by Mahler, Handel & Peter Lieberson (Audio CD)

I am fortunate to work in an office with walls and a door, where I can actually play music without disturbing anyone. Lately, because work has been particularly stressful, I've been playing and replaying my Hunt Lieberson CD's. Sometimes I am forced to just stop what I'm doing and listen, because I can't help it. Other times I'm aware of this glorious, comforting, melodic background to my work that makes everything I do more tolerable and less fraught. To say that I'm awestruck by this woman's gift would be the grossest of understatements. I don't recall ever responding to music in this way--and I am a singer. No one who cares about vocal music should be without all of Hunt Lieberson's work. Simply extraordinary.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Tribute, July 15, 2007

By 

C. H. Trippe (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Songs by Mahler, Handel & Peter Lieberson (Audio CD)

The re-issue of (AT LAST!) of this live concert is a fitting tribute to the late Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson. The achingly beautiful Mahler lieder and the joyous Handel arias for which she was so well known, are exquisitely and movingly sung. This is a must-have for those who loved this great artist. Her favorite encore number, "Deep River" could melt a heart of stone.